"look at my works, ye Mighty..."
Nov. 8th, 2006 08:12 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
reenkaMan, I miss all my Sandman volumes sometimes... though not my old 60+ Star Trek novels, hahah. I can't even imagine getting them from my mom's apt... talk about embarrassing. I was just reading through this sort of metatastic post on despair and of course I thought of Despair. Heh, I used to identify with her & Delirium quite a lot... but well, they're kinda flip-sides of the same coin, though I suppose this leaves Desire in the lurch. Well, maybe Desire's first, Delirium second, and Despair last. That is to say, Death is really last, but then she's also first; heheh you can tell that Sandman is like, my most ideal story ever, right? It's still up there-- my #1-- and it's weird, but I've never liked Neil's other work nearly as much. It's like The Sandman was just too perfect a fusion of story & writer, or something, and once you hit that sort of level, anything else is bound to disappoint. Or maybe that's just me, the person who's never been able to read any other Arthur&Merlin retelling after deciding at age 12-13 that Mary Stewart's Merlin was perfect (funny how I love fanfic and fairy-tale retellings so much, but then I don't usually think of any story as 'perfect', thank god... though I did sort of also lose interest in H/S for awhile after reading ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
thisveryinstant's 'Truth'. As far as post-OoTP H/S goes, it's close enough to perfect for me).
I love that post's idea that despair is universal, unlike love-- either you know "it" or you don't. I was actually asking myself whether I could be absolutely sure I've felt "it", though, because... I think once you're out of it, it's hard to recall exactly. It fades, the way any intense emotion does, until you sort of recall it like a fugue of temporary insanity, sort of a black hole that sucks in normal memories and leaves you with vague impressions and shadows.
All this because I followedjahbulon from the latest xkcd strip post where he picked on one of those 'first comment!' people & replied to someone saying 'Who am I to judge' asking if they're sentient :D
Anyway, this sent me on a tangent 'cause...
Generally I'm a poster-girl for the Nonjudgmental Brigade (unless I get pissed), but then it occurred to me that you know, people definitely do take that too far both ways. A lot of times I get really frustrated and irritated with people's ignorant/snap judgments, but I also hate it when people swallow things whole in all credibility (watch the Scientologists!) and/or wallow in apathy-- because if you don't judge, half the time you don't care, and that's not necessarily good, yeah?
Initially, I was thinking that I don't mind judgmental assholes, really, in fiction (in fact, I tend to be rather attracted to them). I know most people tend to gravitate towards types they like or approve of in stories too (I suspect those would be people more prone to judgements), but I actually enjoy the respite of being able to enjoy people's sometimes harmful idiosyncracies without the burden of knowing they could and would hurt someone. A lot of the things that bother me in real life just don't seem to blip my radar in fiction-- I could pretty much accept anything if it's well-written & believable in context (depending how depressed I want to be at the time). Any bias, any crazy belief or behavior, any over-aggressive display-- it all seems almost endearing to me somehow, once you take away the sting.
In a way, characters are all kind of... cute in their foibles, you know, since they're basically harmless; so I was thinking how it'd be great if I could always pretend real people were characters too-- I mean, it'd help if I knew more about them, too, but... given that fictional context of inner knowledge & the guarantee of safety... suddenly it's a lot easier to see how aggressive judgmental behavior could be... understandable & even useful to balance.
I think it comes down to understanding, which is key; in fiction, you get the tools so you can understand why any character acts the way they do-- and armed with that knowledge, only a super-strong & unreasonable bias would stop you from sympathizing. In that sense, all characters are equal in that they all basically react in the only way they could, generally, based on their experiences and innate programming. How could you (as a reader, separate from these characters, in a whole 'nother reality, even) really hate someone when you (or rather, the author) takes away some or most of their Free Will?
Ahhh, but there's the rub, I guess.
~~
Anyway, uh, speaking of vids-- I'm guessing my flist isn't as enthusiastic as I am (but then that's probably a good thing), but... I've just found really cute & well-done (*SHOCK*!!) HP Harry-centric gen vids byashinae, here :D :D :D OMG DAN IS SO WEE & ADORABLE IN FIRST YEAR when he isn't talking especially <3<3<3 It's really sort of sad that I'm still so easily stricken with pure adoration, but... AAAHHHH HARRY <33333333333333333333 :((
I would almost stop plugging away at my WIPs sometimes, but then it's like... my baby :(( I CAN'T HELP IT :(( I'll prolly write gen every now and then even when the H/D mojo's left me :( Haha, I don't even have the excuse of thinking he's oh-so 'interesting' as a character or 'hot' or even 'fun/easy to write'... hell, my Harry characterization never feels quite right even to me, so it's always frustrating on some level. I totally write him just to express my love ♥. ...And yeah, 'Like Home', the R/S one, is also awesome. *sigh* Man, it makes my Remus fic gestate faster. Maybe in another year it'll finally get born. :> Y'know, the song ('Chocolate' by Snow Patrol) really helps me understand why R/T would eventually happen if R/S also did, just in terms of emotional logic. Poor Remus; it totally makes sense that he only loved Sirius 'like that' but it's not like... it's not like he expected anything.
What have I done it's too late for that
What have I become truth is nothing yet
A simple mistake starts the hardest time
I promise I'll do anything you ask...this time
PS: Am currently watching The Sentinel vids *___* And I just have to say. They are... SO gay. I mean in canon. So gay. I know everyone thinks that about 'their' show, but I AM NOT KIDDING!!1 The OC? NOT GAY. Supernatural? NOT GAY. NOTHING IS GAY LIKE THIS, NOT EVEN BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN IS THIS GAY, ALL RIGHT *_____________* ...well, nothing except possibly, uh, pop boybands... and, okay, QAF *___*
thisveryinstant's 'Truth'. As far as post-OoTP H/S goes, it's close enough to perfect for me).I love that post's idea that despair is universal, unlike love-- either you know "it" or you don't. I was actually asking myself whether I could be absolutely sure I've felt "it", though, because... I think once you're out of it, it's hard to recall exactly. It fades, the way any intense emotion does, until you sort of recall it like a fugue of temporary insanity, sort of a black hole that sucks in normal memories and leaves you with vague impressions and shadows.
All this because I followed
jahbulon from the latest xkcd strip post where he picked on one of those 'first comment!' people & replied to someone saying 'Who am I to judge' asking if they're sentient :DAnyway, this sent me on a tangent 'cause...
Generally I'm a poster-girl for the Nonjudgmental Brigade (unless I get pissed), but then it occurred to me that you know, people definitely do take that too far both ways. A lot of times I get really frustrated and irritated with people's ignorant/snap judgments, but I also hate it when people swallow things whole in all credibility (watch the Scientologists!) and/or wallow in apathy-- because if you don't judge, half the time you don't care, and that's not necessarily good, yeah?
Initially, I was thinking that I don't mind judgmental assholes, really, in fiction (in fact, I tend to be rather attracted to them). I know most people tend to gravitate towards types they like or approve of in stories too (I suspect those would be people more prone to judgements), but I actually enjoy the respite of being able to enjoy people's sometimes harmful idiosyncracies without the burden of knowing they could and would hurt someone. A lot of the things that bother me in real life just don't seem to blip my radar in fiction-- I could pretty much accept anything if it's well-written & believable in context (depending how depressed I want to be at the time). Any bias, any crazy belief or behavior, any over-aggressive display-- it all seems almost endearing to me somehow, once you take away the sting.
In a way, characters are all kind of... cute in their foibles, you know, since they're basically harmless; so I was thinking how it'd be great if I could always pretend real people were characters too-- I mean, it'd help if I knew more about them, too, but... given that fictional context of inner knowledge & the guarantee of safety... suddenly it's a lot easier to see how aggressive judgmental behavior could be... understandable & even useful to balance.
I think it comes down to understanding, which is key; in fiction, you get the tools so you can understand why any character acts the way they do-- and armed with that knowledge, only a super-strong & unreasonable bias would stop you from sympathizing. In that sense, all characters are equal in that they all basically react in the only way they could, generally, based on their experiences and innate programming. How could you (as a reader, separate from these characters, in a whole 'nother reality, even) really hate someone when you (or rather, the author) takes away some or most of their Free Will?
Ahhh, but there's the rub, I guess.
~~
Anyway, uh, speaking of vids-- I'm guessing my flist isn't as enthusiastic as I am (but then that's probably a good thing), but... I've just found really cute & well-done (*SHOCK*!!) HP Harry-centric gen vids by
ashinae, here :D :D :D OMG DAN IS SO WEE & ADORABLE IN FIRST YEAR when he isn't talking especially <3<3<3 It's really sort of sad that I'm still so easily stricken with pure adoration, but... AAAHHHH HARRY <33333333333333333333 :(( I would almost stop plugging away at my WIPs sometimes, but then it's like... my baby :(( I CAN'T HELP IT :(( I'll prolly write gen every now and then even when the H/D mojo's left me :( Haha, I don't even have the excuse of thinking he's oh-so 'interesting' as a character or 'hot' or even 'fun/easy to write'... hell, my Harry characterization never feels quite right even to me, so it's always frustrating on some level. I totally write him just to express my love ♥. ...And yeah, 'Like Home', the R/S one, is also awesome. *sigh* Man, it makes my Remus fic gestate faster. Maybe in another year it'll finally get born. :> Y'know, the song ('Chocolate' by Snow Patrol) really helps me understand why R/T would eventually happen if R/S also did, just in terms of emotional logic. Poor Remus; it totally makes sense that he only loved Sirius 'like that' but it's not like... it's not like he expected anything.
What have I done it's too late for that
What have I become truth is nothing yet
A simple mistake starts the hardest time
I promise I'll do anything you ask...this time
PS: Am currently watching The Sentinel vids *___* And I just have to say. They are... SO gay. I mean in canon. So gay. I know everyone thinks that about 'their' show, but I AM NOT KIDDING!!1 The OC? NOT GAY. Supernatural? NOT GAY. NOTHING IS GAY LIKE THIS, NOT EVEN BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN IS THIS GAY, ALL RIGHT *_____________* ...well, nothing except possibly, uh, pop boybands... and, okay, QAF *___*
